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Greinke rejects deal to Nationals

The Nationals had a deal in place to acquire right-hander Zack Greinke, a baseball source confirmed to MLB.com. However, Greinke used his no-trade clause and rejected the deal.

Instead, the Royals traded Greinke to the Brewers for prospects. Published reports indicated that Greinke will accept the deal to Milwaukee. An official announcement is expected Monday.

No reason was given as to why Greinke turned down the deal to Washington, but he made it clear this past season that he would like to play for a team that won on a consistent basis. The Nationals have yet to finish with a record over .500 since relocating to Washington.

“My only motivation now is winning. … When we’re 20 games out, it’s hard to get excited to come to the park,” Greinke told MLB.com’s Dick Kaegel in September.

It’s not known who the Royals would have acquired if Greinke accepted the deal to Washington. Published reports indicate that reliever Drew Stroren, infielder Danny Espinosa and right-hander Jordan Zimmermann may have been part of this deal.

The Nationals have been looking for an ace pitcher this offseason, but have come up empty handed — so far. Last Sunday, it was learned that the Nationals were out of the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. Lee ended up signing a five-deal with the Phillies.

However, the Nationals are still in the mix to acquire Carl Pavano and Brandon Webb. They could also try to trade for Rays right-hander Matt Garza, but would have to give up a lot in return. The Rays are looking for high-level prospects and bullpen help.

General Mike Rizzo, who was not available for comment, said this past season that he wanted to acquire starting pitching and put players in their proper places in the rotation. For example, the Nationals don’t consider John Lannan an ace pitcher. They consider him a No 3. or 4 starter on a good team.

2 Comments

The Lerner’s could have offered a 20 year deal and $700,000,000 and he would have considered coming to a loser. If he thought losing 20 games with KC was bad with a 2.00 ERA, wait til he sees our defense. My prediction for this year is rather than having the fly balls hit our outfielders in the head, that Jason Werth hits the unsuspecting cutoff man squarely in the midsection and he’s out for the season. Jason will learn to throw to the wrong base like the rest of them.

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